Kona 3 and sony J30SDI

[Bob Zelin]

Tony –
I will answer your questions, but HOW DARE YOU ask Blackmagic questions on an AJA Forum. Blackmagic has their own forum on Creative Cow. You initiallly made this into an AJA problem, and now it became a Blackmagic problem. Why would you assume that it was the AJA card? Where the hell is the engineer at your facility that set this up for you.

Replies below –

Tony writes –
but this is connected to a BlackMagic-Design VideoHub that was installed some time ago.

REPLY – and what happened to the person that installed the VideoHub for you, to assist you with this ?

you write –
This has 16x rs422 connections, one of which travels under the floor to this Mac Pro but is plugged into a AJA IO. I have moved this and connected it to the Kona 3 cable RS422 connection, but get nothing, no video, no deck control. If I bypass the videohub by connecting the SDI cables together I get Video IO but using the VideoHUB I get nothing.

REPLY – Last year, blackmagic made a 12×24 Videohub. This product is now obsolete, and has become (from what you describe) a brand new 16×32 Studio Videohub, or 72×144 Broadcast Videohub. Both of these are relatively new products, so when you say “some time ago”, if you have x16 connections for RS422, that was recently.
There are MANY MENUS that must be configured in the Videohub to make it work. A common reason for RS422 failure with the Blackmagic videohub (aside from cabling issues) is that the System Preference Window in the videohub allows you to change the NAMES of the crosspoints. In this very window, where you change the names of the crosspoints, on the right hand side is the RS422 control for each crosspoint. You can switch this from WORKSTATION to DECK. There was a bug in the old software driver (which has been resolved in the new 4.0 download) where your VTR would switch all by itself from DECK back to WORKSTATION. If your J30-SDI crosspoint is assigned as WORKSTATION, and not DECK, it won’t work – it actually appears grayed out.

you write –
I cannot bypass the RS422 on the video hub as the distance between the machine in the video rack makes it difficult.

REPLY – it is my guess that you have the menus on the blackmagic videohub configured incorrectly, as per my comments above. I urge you to update the Blackmagic Videohub software – which needs to be done on BOTH the server computer, AND all the client workstations to the new 4.0 software/firmware. And dont’ forget to flash the firmware when you install it on the server for the Videohub.

you write –
I have installed the VideoHub software, but all options are blank and have no ability to manage the connections. The videohub is connected direct to this mac using the USB connection.

REPLY – it is blank because you have not flashed the firmware. I know that I seem mean when I say this, but it gets me VERY ANGRY when people that have no background in doing engineering installations, nor have read the THIN 33 page .pdf manual, make an attempt to get this to work. When you load in the software (whcih must be done on your MAC server (the one with the USB connection) you must then FLASH THE FIRMWARE. How on earth you want to operate this product, and not read thru the manual that Blackmagic graciously provides is just beyond me. I fully understand that you are busy editing (or whatever you are doing), but it is INSANE that your boss has assigned a task like this (getting a facility router installed by an editor that has never done anything like this before).

you write –
Does anyone know about the videoHub here, it’s asking for an IP address for the videohub, how do i find that?
REPLY –
I read this line before I started my comments and reply back to you. I am very angry as I read this because it shows me that you have never read the 33 page .pdf manual for this product, your dealer did not assist you or anyone else in training on this product, and you have no idea of how to use this product. Perhaps this is your bosses fault, for being too cheap to hire someone to install this properly. On your server (the MAC with the USB connection to the videohub), you go into System Preferences>Network, and assign a STATIC IP ADDRESS. How do you choose this number ? Well, if you have a network at your facility, you need to carefully choose this number so it does not conflict with other IP addresses that are being used by other comptuters at your facility. Your IT administrator (the guy that setup your computer network) can give you this number – but for the sake of this reply, I will make up a number – 192.168.2.3. You now enter this number on your MAC in the System Preferences>Network control panel (click manual configuration to do this, and make sure to assign a subnet mask as well). Click Apply. OK, this computer now has an IP address. Go to the Blackmagic software interface, click on the Preferences menu, and where it asks for an IP address – enter this same number (like 192.168.2.3). Now your Videohub has a static dedicated IP for you to work with. When you load in the Videohub software to your FCP workstations aroudn your facility that need to access this control panel software, when you do the install, it will ask you for the same IP address (192.168.2.3 for example) – you enter this number, and now any FCP workstation can have the Blackmagic menus’ just pop up on the MAC screen, so they too can change router crosspoints.

struggling with the BMD software / hardware..

REPLY – it’s not a struggle if you read the 33 page manual. You can’t just figure this out without reading the manual. Someone should have been hired to do this installation for you.

It is VERY unlikely that you have RS422 problems with the AJA Kona 3. It is my guess that all of your problems are because your Blackmagic Videohub is simply not configured correctly.

And to the gentlemen from Video Atlanta that said “dont’ have a heart attack, the guy just needs a cable” – let me remind you that when your boss starts to hire students instead of professionals to edit and shoot for your company, this is exactly what will happen to your career as well (how do you turn the camera on again?).

If you have further questions about this, I will be happy to address this on the proper BLACKMAGIC forum on Creative Cow.

Bob Zelin

[Doug Beal]

You are behaving very much like an modern engineer. Distilling a 33 page manual down two a single page for someone to get their stuff to work, doin the VAR’s work and not gettin paid for it.
Now in the old days…
I think my favorite Old Engineer trick was the book carefully compiled and hidden that listed all the wire codes used to describe what wire went where, never mentioning the source and destination by name on the wire label so you HAD to have the secret book to determine what was up.
Alway a joy reading your posts!

Doug Beal
Editor / Engineer
Rock Creative Images
Nashville TN